The Q1 2024 benchmarking report for UK window & conservatory suppliers has just been published. Learn how the top 7 UK window & conservatory suppliers perform across the digital space.
The latest Q1 2024 benchmarking report for UK window & conservatory suppliers has just been published. It covers the largest 7 UK window & conservatory suppliers, including Everest, Anglian Home Improvements, Conservatory Outlet, Ultraframe, First Home Improvements, Safestyle UK, and EYG Home Improvements.
The research gives an inside track on who is winning the biggest share of voice online, and quantifies the gaps, risks and missed opportunities for other window & conservatory suppliers to win brand exposure, drive online traffic, and generate orders. The report highlights quick wins that will improve enquiries from your online strategy and identifies the barriers that may be reducing your site’s ability to optimise digital performance.
To see a preview and contents page of the Q1 report, click here. To get a copy of the full report and the key takeaways, please complete the enquiry form or schedule a call. 
Q1 2024 WINNERS LEADERBOARD
For a glance into just 6 of the metrics we evaluated these top 7 window & conservatory suppliers on, check out our quick-look table below; 
Continue reading for further detail on this quarter's best and poorest-performing window and conservatory suppliers, or request a copy of the report for the full review.
What The Industry Research Report Covers
The 70+ pages of research benchmarks each retailer based on 50+ metrics and indicators of successful digital strategy, including organic visibility, domain authority, paid media ads, conversion performance, technical performance, site speed, universal search, content, social ads, accessibility, and mobile performance.
Driving Optimal ROAS from Paid Media Channels
Some of the leading players in the space are high spenders on paid media channels such as Google, Bing & Facebook - but have a poor or sub-optimal conversion improvement strategy. Without an optimised, sophisticated conversion strategy that maximises the conversion rate, the return on investment is unsustainable or will underperform. Scaling spend on paid media is not achievable unless the conversion rate delivers optimal performance in the sector. Some in the space have paid media spend levels from 30k+ per month but dedicate minimal resources and budgets to conversion testing. Given the cost per clicks on ad networks will continue to rise, we recommend spending at least 10% of your paid media budget on ongoing conversion optimisation testing schedules to ensure your paid media ROI maintains long term viability, competitive advantage, and sustainability.
Technical Website Compliance
Savvy digital marketers know that having a technically sound website is an essential component of a successful fully integrated digital strategy - plus a site capable of maximising conversion performance. Having a technically sound website will ensure prospective customers are able to find key information, such as payment plans, guides to the installation process, and product comparisons.
In the last audit, Anglian Home Improvements reported 223 4xx errors, which it’s reduced to 20 in this quarter. The provider with the highest 4xx errors is Ultraframe, flagging 89. Ultraframe should assess its linking structure to ensure that all are up to date to reflect new content or services.
Site Speed & Conversion Rate Performance
When 62% of consumers are less likely to convert if they have a negative mobile site experience, ensuring that your site is quick and easy to load makes a significant improvement on your overall conversion rates. With ways to save money, such as investing in energy-efficient, insulating windows, at the forefront of everyone’s mind during the cost-of-living crisis, ensuring your site is working to its full potential is essential for stopping customers from jumping to a competitor’s website.
For Q1 2024, the mobile site speed ranged between 50 and 21, with only Everest reporting the 50% — the recommended site speed for all brands. First Home Improvements, which reported the lowest score, should reduce the amount of content on a single page to increase loading speeds.
Building Competitive Advantage with Domain Authority
Domain authority is an essential metric for measuring the effectiveness of SEO performance and helps create a reliable overall gauge of how effective your site is at achieving organic traffic, i.e. ‘free’ traffic that isn’t gained through sponsored ads. Tying into the need to appeal to consumers looking to save costs on energy bills, windows & conservatory suppliers could look to creating shareable data on energy saving that is likely to be picked up by the national press, gaining both valuable backlinks and referral traffic.
A ‘good’ DA really comes down to how your competitors are performing, however it’s generally considered average between 40 and 50, good between 50 and 60, and excellent above 60. The DA range for this quarter ranged between 62 and 28, with Conservatory Outlet reporting the lowest number of domains for backlinks – which can affect a brand’s DA.
Organic Performance – Mobile & Desktop
A strong organic performance is strategically important as it ensures your site ranks above competitors for key, transactional keywords. When 93% of your customers won’t go past the first page of Google, your absence or lack of targeting for essential keywords will cost you conversions. While, in Q1, we expected an increase in traffic to window and conservatory suppliers, due to consumers seeking energy-efficient home improvements which would save on energy bills, moving into the summer we expect to see these figures fall. With summer trade being more dependent on the home expansion side of these businesses, consumers are less likely to seek out these non-essential services and products.
All services saw a loss in organic traffic on mobile devices and two saw an increase in organic traffic on desktop. This means all brands should take the time to ensure their websites are mobile-friendly to help increase organic traffic.
Universal Search Opportunity
Google Universal Search Results is an evolving opportunity to make your pages visible on a SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Universal results often appear before traditional listings and are eye-catching for users. Universal search results refer to rankings on a SERP that are not the traditional ‘blue line’ Google link, and a retailer can appear for universal search results without being strong in standard rankings. Customer reviews and FAQs are a great way for potential customers to see the experience others have had with the window & conservatory suppliers and gauge which company has the happiest customers.
Everest reported the most Universal Search results (9,168), with most of these appearances coming from the ‘image’ category (6,900 — a slight increase from the previous quarter). Only one service received any appearances for ‘reviews’, and brands should look to increase this by the next quarter.
The Longtail Keyword Opportunity
Longtail keywords are often considered high intent and potentially more likely to convert as a searcher is being more specific. Optimising for longtail keywords also puts your content strategy in a strong position to rank for retailer new search terms as they enter Google’s index. Window & conservatory suppliers have a wide range of longtail keywords to work with, and should also take the opportunity to look at keywords including the cost-of-living crisis and ways to save money on heating.
Everest reported the most appearances for longtail keywords with 2,339 results in positions 3 and 2,518 in positions 4–10. First Home Improvements raised some concerns in our previous audit. In this quarter, this provider has decreased its ranking in positions 3 from 91 to 53. It should review its keyword strategy to help increase this ranking.
Facebook Adverts
With the number of Facebook users in the United Kingdom (UK) hitting over 44 million users in 2023, it is not surprising that companies have jumped at the opportunity to advertise on the social media platform. Facebook’s UK digital advertising revenue has been estimated to have breached 2.6b GB pounds in 2019. Facebook ads are a great way for window & conservatory suppliers to reach a wide range of people. Ensuring they use eye-catching copy and clear CTAs helps capture the scrolling viewer’s attention.
We’ve included three examples of Anglian Home Improvements’ three sponsored Facebook posts. All images used have customisation, which is beneficial building branding awareness, though, it should refrain from incorporating links into the posts.
Top Social Shares & Content
When it comes to social media and on-site content strategies, it is important to release content that has a longer shelf life. An article is considered 'Evergreen' if it has maintained its relevancy to an audience for longer. It's great for your retailer engagement, but great for Google too, who will recognise content which achieves traffic over a long period of time. Window & conservatory suppliers should be taking the opportunity to share statistics on how much money new windows can save in the long run, and also any offers they currently have on.
Facebook appears to be the most popular social media platform for all companies. Safestyle UK reported the most total engagement, and it also has the largest Facebook page and Instagram account. It’s important that companies receive a high engagement rate, as this indicates their social media followers are present and interested in their content.
Website Readability & Accessibility
20% of people in the UK have a disability – 2 million of which are people living with sight loss. In addition, 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have some degree of colour vision deficiency. When websites are not designed to meet these needs, retailers lose customer interest as they turn elsewhere. Window & conservatories will have universal appeal, so suppliers need to ensure their site is accessible for all. They need to ensure everyone can access and use their website with ease, to stop customers from leaving for a more accessible website.
In our last audit, Ultraframe posed some problems with 101 contrast errors and 103 accessibility alerts. In this quarter, this provider saw no improvement for accessibility alerts and increased its contrast errors to 104. To make improvements, it must address redundant links, very small text, skipped heading levels, and very low contrasts on its website design.
GET THE FULL 70-PAGE Q1 2024 REPORT
To get a copy of the full report, please complete the enquiry form. If you want to talk to us about accelerating your digital performance, please call us on 01543 410014 or schedule a call with Mike Movassaghi.
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